


Ice Storm Christening

by Entwife_Incognito



Series: "Mistletoe" [3]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: "Mistletoe" series, Courtship, F/M, Friendship/Love, No Sex, Romance, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 13:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8402692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwife_Incognito/pseuds/Entwife_Incognito
Summary: Caught in a Texas ice storm! Jane and Lisbon have to hunker down and weather it together. Still, they manage to have some fun in the unique beauty of the frozen landscape. Just a bit of sweet fluff as their courtship slowly progresses. A sequel to Winter Fruit and Three Kisses of the "Mistletoe" series, but can stand alone. One-shot. AU. A very mild "T," I would think. ‘The 2014 Saint Valentine's Day Accords’ is next in the series. Disclaimer: I don't own anything about The Mentalist.Originally posted at FFnet on January 12, 2014. Now here with refining edits to improve readability.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Anonymous on Tumblr for the reminder to christen The Mistletoe, and how to do it. It's made this a very fun story to write. Also, thanks to austinpd1 on Tumblr for creating an edit of Lisbon's boat with the name painted on just as described here. Such a wonderful gift and I miss you so much, Terri.

The cold made everything feel brittle outside. The ground crunched. The frost-frozen leaves broke apart under foot. The car door had to break its seal of frozen condensation in order to creak open. The wiper blades rattled and scraped across the frosted windshield. Even the cold seats crackled and squeaked as she sat down. Eighteen degrees! Even the air smelled frozen, ozoney like a lightning storm. Always having thought of Texas as hot, Lisbon was shocked at the bitterly cold weather. People just seemed to respond to her shock with a variation of, "Oh, it gets like that sometimes in January."  


What a miserable weekend! Staying inside, trying to stay warm when every corner seemed frigid even with the heat cranked up. Thank god for the fireplace! Jane had cut up some fallen oak branches around his place at Lake Travis and brought it in his pick up when the weather warnings came out. That man seemed to reveal a new skill a day in the woodsy setting he had found for his Airstream.  


It made her feel a little more secure, a supplement to her assortment of Duraflame logs and two small bundles of cordwood from a stack in front of the convenience store. If the power went out, as it had in many places, at least she could sit in front of the fire, move the sofa closer and sleep there if she had to. California was never like this! And Washington, well, it could be cold and chill, but somehow it didn't feel this bone-cracking! And they had snow, not ice storms!  


And now, it was supposed to rain! Make that sleet and ice. What the hell was going on? No one would be able to drive in that weather. Did everything just shut down? She couldn't drive in something like that! The whole idea made her nervous. The weather map showed the looming frozen mass that would arrive before dark. The local weather people were scattered at locations around the city and environs, reporting on nothing yet as if there was an approaching hurricane. Schools were already announcing closings. City trucks and crews were mobilizing to salt the streets. Good God! Where had she moved to?  


She texted Jane. _How is it out your way?_ After buttoning some more of her sweater, she adjusted the throw around her legs. Ugh! She should just to go to bed, hide under the covers and hope for the best! But then she'd have to be away from the fire.  


Her phone chimed a text. _Gray. Fog frosting everything. Clouds dark on horizon. Must be ice and sleet coming in._  


Lisbon threw another log on the fire. _UR gonna be stranded out there!_  


_UR gonna be stranded, too!_  


_I have a fireplace!_  


_Enough wood?_  


_Not if power goes out._  


Lisbon scared herself with the last message she had sent. While the pile of wood next to her fireplace seemed excessive for the simple cheer of a few winter evenings, without power she would need more. A lot more! _Jane. I need more wood!_  


Food! Water! She couldn't run to the grocery store or for take out in weather like this! And once the ice storm hit, the temperature was not supposed to be above freezing for days. She made a quick inventory of her cupboards and refrigerator. Not bad if you liked dry cereal with no milk, a withered apple, stale bread and peanut butter. Oh. There was a third of a bottle of orange juice. She opened it to sniff. Nope. Scratch that. It was fermenting.  


_Jane! No food here and I can't get any!_  


It seemed like forever before he responded.  


_Loading truck with wood. Will get groceries on way in._  


_The roads will ice! You might crash! No!_  


_You might starve and freeze, much worse :( Roads okay now—_  


Lisbon's phone rang with Jane's incoming call. "Jane! Don't drive! I'll figure something out."  


"No, Lisbon. I'll be fine. It hasn't started yet. Anyway, I've driven in much worse weather in my youth."  


"Jesus, Jane. What were you in your spare time from the carnival, a lumberjack?"  


He chuckled. "Just stay put. I'll come to you. I'll bring wood and groceries. But Lisbon . . . "  


"Yeah?"  


"Once I get there . . . well . . . I'll be stranded."  


Jane had cultivated a habit of caution with Lisbon. So skittish about men in her personal life generally, she was especially so about him. He couldn't blame her for not trusting him. She still thought he would run away and never return. Lisbon's abandonment and commitment issues were huge, but his ability to trigger them had just about broken the meter. So glad to have her affection and her company, he had determined to let anything more be strictly at her initiative. He didn't deserve her. And she was taking it very slowly. Every approach held two steps back. He had to let her dance, standing by with open arms, until she could see he would always be her partner.  


"Not a problem, Jane. As long as I can trust you to stay in your own bed." Lisbon grinned at her reference to their New Year's Eve when she drank a little too much and had to stay overnight in Jane's Airstream. He had teased her about not being able to stay in her own bed. She had, of course.  


"Aw, Lisbon. You take all the fun out of being stranded!" He laughed. "But don't worry. I wouldn't try to seduce you over a weather emergency. I'll sleep on the couch by the fire."  


Crap. No way was she going to spend the night in her cold bedroom, no matter how many blankets she piled on. But neither could she ask him to do it. "We'll figure that out when you get here."  


While the tub was filling with water for emergency use, Lisbon raided her bed, the spare bedroom and the linen closet, bringing sheets and every blanket and pillow to the living room. Angling one end of the couch away from the fireplace, she dragged the twin mattress from the guest room and laid it on the opposite diagonal with the coffee table at the apex. She split the pillows and blankets between their two sleeping spots. It actually looked like they could be quite comfortable!  


The doorbell died mid-chirp as the lights went out, the appliances hummed their last and the furnace choked mid-blow.  


Lisbon flew to the door in the now dusky light. "God! Jane! I'm so glad you're here! The power just went out." He was wearing the pea coat she loved so much, navy blue with big white frog closures.  


"Do you have candles?"  


"A few, yeah. Somewhere."  


"I got some. Matches? Lighter?"  


"I have a few left from trying to start this fire."  


"I got some. And the fire's going, anyway. Flashlights?"  


"Batteries are bound to be dead. Did you train with FEMA?"  


Jane winked. "Candles it is, then."  


Jane set four grocery sacks on the counter, mostly prepared food, along with fruit and a few perishables that would need to be eaten relatively quickly. Lisbon loaded them away, thinking hungrily of the meals that now stretched out before her. "This looks so good, Jane . . . the refrigerator should keep most things cold enough for awhile. Surely the power won't be out that long."  


"If it is, we can always put the perishables on the front stoop!"  


Leaning back on the counter to watch her, his look was skeptical shock as he saw the state of her pantry. "Given what you would have been forced to live on, I bet it looks like a feast!"  


"Yeah . . . well . . . some of us are into the domestic routine, and some are not. Don't spoil my enjoyment of these groceries!"  


"Feeding yourself hardly elevates to the snide domestic routine you make of it, Lisbon. It should give you pleasure."  


"Stop! I'm looking at these apples and getting pleasure. Is that enough?"  


"I was going to bake them in the fireplace with cinnamon and sugar. But help yourself. Uh. You do have aluminum foil?"  


Lisbon lowered the apple from her open mouth. "Is there anything in here that you don't have plans for? I'm hungry. And why would I have aluminum foil?"  


"No reason." He rolled his eyes and she smirked at him. "I got some. Just in case."  


Jane turned his attention to Lisbon's hunger. Hmmmm. Something yummy and filling. Comfort food. Jane pulled the peanut butter from her cabinet, reached into a bag and fished out a jar of dark cherry preserves. Little bird loved cherries. Then he grabbed a small plate and stacked it with a couple slices of fresh, soft bread, laying a banana next to it. Finally, a clean glass and the milk Lisbon had just set in the refrigerator. "Do I have to make it for you, too?"  


Lisbon ignored him and started making her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Mmmmmm! Black cherry, yum!" She was already putting the sandwich to her mouth when she caught Jane's eye, brow upraised. Setting it down, she returned it to the plate and pushed it toward him. "Here. You're my guest. You've done all the work so far. Have this one. You want half this banana, too? I can't eat the whole thing."  


"Mmmm, yes! Thank you, Lisbon. Really. You have to stop eating like a Neanderthal, foraging the drive-thrus and bodegas on the run and digging into your catch before the rest of the beasts can get a share." But you can always take from my plate, little bird.  


"Hush and eat this or I'll take it back and we can fight for it."  


He took the sandwich as Lisbon smiled at him and started another one on the new plate with bread slices he set in front of her. Grabbing the banana from Jane's plate, she cut it in half for them. Then she poured them each a glass of cold milk. "I've got us set up by the fireplace. C'mon. It's starting to get chilly in here."  


"Nice! You built us a little fort, Lisbon!" His smile was wide and full of pleasure as he set his plate and glass on the coffee table and sat on the couch.  


They made quick work of the meal and Jane stood up. Lisbon, savoring a succulent mouthful of pb and j, pointed and flicked her finger, indicating Jane's mouth, and he wiped a milk moustache away. "Come on. Let's get the wood out of the truck. We don't want it to get wet."  


Wet globules that looked like clear sleet were falling. Ice! It already coated the rails of the truck bed and the tarp that covered the wood Jane had piled there. They made two trips each with arms loaded. Lisbon sorted the wood, setting the small-diameter pieces near the fireplace. Jane brought in a second armload of wood and they both returned for the two large containers of distilled water he'd remembered to add before he checked out at the grocery store.  


Lisbon pointed to the sofa. "Have a seat. I figured you'd want the couch since you're used to sleeping on one. I'll take the mattress."  


"Sounds good. You don't have to stay down there the whole time, though. Your back will start hurting. I'll make room on the couch until it's time for bed."  


They talked companionably, as friends do, Jane breaking to prepare the apples to roast at the fire and open a bottle of wine. "I thought white with the apples . . . "  


The apartment was frigid beyond the fire by the time they wanted to turn in. They both changed into sweats layered underneath with tee shirts. Jane added wood to the fire and they snuggled into their respective beds.  


Jane watched the fire and listened to Lisbon toss and turn on her mattress.  


"I can't get warm. I don't think the fire's big enough."  


"Any bigger and it will set the place on fire."  


"I'll move the mattress closer to it."  


"No. That's not safe." Jane rose up to look at her. "Your body's not big enough to stay warm in these conditions. Come up on the couch with me."  


"Jane. No. I can't."  


"Come on. Don't be stubborn. I told you I wouldn't seduce you over a weather emergency. I don't want you freezing to death. Or getting sick. Imagine what Cho would do to me."  


Invoking the specter of Cho's wrath did the trick. He would kill Jane if he let something happen to her. "Okay. I'm freezing. I'll put my head down on this end."  


"Whatever makes you comfortable. Just get up here and get warm. Bring your blankets if you need to. I'll adjust."  


Lisbon built her nest on the end of the couch and crawled in. Jane tried to help situate her feet.  


"Oh my god! Who tied blocks of ice to your feet? Wait! These blocks of ice have toes! Where are your socks, Lisbon?"  


"I don't like to sleep in socks. They make my feet hot."  


"Not tonight they won't. Get up and put some socks on."  


"I don't want to get up. They'll get warm in a minute." She picked her head up and peered at him over her covers. "Even faster if you warm them for me. Tuck them under your arms."  


"And get hypothermia! Get up and get some socks or I'm throwing you out!"  


Lisbon got up to get socks. Damn! Her feet were so cold it hurt to walk on them. When she had socks on, she crawled back into her blankets and tried to go to sleep, attempting everything she could think of to warm her feet.  


"Oh, hell. Give them to me. Let me see if I can rub them warm. " Jane proceeded to work on them. They began to thaw when he started to blow his hot breath on her toes.  


"Oh, god, Jane. That's good. I can feel them getting warm when you breathe on them." He planted one kiss on the ball of each foot when he was through tending them.  


Jane fell asleep first and Lisbon tried to minimize the need to shift around to stay warm. Exhausted and desperate to get toasty and go to sleep, she lifted her head and watched Jane sleeping soundly on his stomach, his broad back an inviting display in front of her. Her sleep-deprived mind decided that in their emergency, he would understand if she just . . .  


"Bug. Bug, get off me. I can't breathe." That damn dog made no move to obey. A hundred pounds and he thought he was a kitten! Such a wuss in cold weather. Thought the only place to sleep was on the Boy Wonder. Jane grabbed a paw, maneuvering to pull Bug off his back and dump him on his ass. Only this paw had no fur. And long, skinny, naked toes. And fingernails! Jane opened his eyes to the dim light of a freezing morning and studied the paw he held. It looked like a hand. A small, girly hand. Lisbon? What was she doing on his back?  


He tried to turn his head to look and dislodged her head from his neck. Wet patch. She'd been drooling on him. "Lisbon." No answer. He could feel her squirm and lay her head on the other side of his neck. "Lisbon, get off me. I can't breathe and you're hurting my back." He tried to wriggle her off, but she was laid over him like a shroud. She didn't seem so light, like this! "Lisbon! Teresa! Wake up!" He heard her moan, rise up and then gasp.  


"Shit!" How had this happened? She remembered. Damn! "Jane. I'm so sorry. I got cold in the night. It's freezing in here! I'll put some more wood on the fire." Scrambling off him, she went straight to the woodpile, hoping he would let it drop if she didn't look at him yet.  


"You could have snuggled up with me if you were cold, you know. I would have let you." Hurt pierced his heart, needle sharp but deep. That she didn't know this . . .  


"I didn't want to disturb you."  


"So, you turned me into your featherbed instead . . . "  


"I was so sleepy and I couldn't get warm and you were like a big heater. You're back is big and broad." It was subtle, but he averted his eyes to keep her from seeing that his feelings were hurt. "Jane. Don't. I didn't want to wake you. I should have thought it through but I wasn't really coherent. I just dragged my blanket and slept on top of you. It worked. I figured it would keep you warm, too."  


"My arms are pretty great, Teresa. You could have slept in them and warmed me that way." His voice trailed away as he finished, "I would have loved . . ."  


"But that would be too . . . close. I don't want to tease you . . . disappoint you."  


"But I wouldn't have a backache or be suffocated. You just didn't want to be close to me."  


"No! That's not true! I just didn't want you to think I wanted, well, you know."  


"What if I did?" His bottom lip stuck out.  


"What if you wanted that, or what if you thought I did?"  


"Either one." Careful, Jane!  


Lisbon tried to stifle a smile and went over to him, sitting on the floor to look him in the face. "I didn't want to take advantage of you in a weather emergency." She brought her lips to his. "Now that I know how you feel, next time . . . But I'll take some Christmas now. Kiss me good morning and I'll go make us something warm to drink."  


Jane loved it when she talked about wanting Christmas from him. It reminded him of their first kiss, just a few weeks ago, under some mistletoe. She kissed him now, so full of love it seemed to him, yet so chaste, still unyielding. Little bird loved kisses. Well, he would take as many as she would give!  


Lisbon didn't want to stop kissing. She knew it wasn't fair. But since she didn't want to go further with Jane yet, she wanted all the kisses she could get just now. His lips were so soft and full! And he knew just how to keep her there, all soft puckers and new angles and humming sweetness. She made herself stop. His eyes were still closed and his lips still available. "What kind of tea, Jane?"  


Eyes opening, his mouth widened into a smile. "I think we'll both have tea."  


"Why? I want coffee."  


"We'll have to put the kettle to the fire to boil water. Can't use the Keurig. Power's out. Remember? That's why we're having our little sleepover."  


"Oh! I forgot. Tea it is, then."  


Camping out in front of the fireplace in the living room of a freezing house with no power lost its novelty quickly. Early in the morning they ventured out the door, but everything was iced over and treacherous, inhospitable, so they retreated to their lair to read and drink tea, talk and play cards and finally just nap out of boredom until lunch.  


The refrigerator kept things cold, so meals were not a problem, just finding pots or pans that would work over a fire. Luckily, the water containers had a spigot, so they could clean up easily. They washed their faces and brushed their teeth at the kitchen sink, but bathing was out of the question. Neither was brave enough to attempt a sponge bath with cold water from the tub in frigid conditions. Besides, they had to dip from the tub to make the toilet flush. Thank god she had remembered to fill the tub. Otherwise they would each have been forced to learn far more about each other than was necessary right now.  


By early afternoon they were miserable. Bored. Tired of fighting the cold and eating out of containers.  


"The sun's out, Jane! You should see this!" The view out the window was stunning, ice coating everything, but the trees were particularly beautiful.  


"Supposed to get up to 34 this afternoon, then everything refreeze tonight. Well-traveled roads should be safe enough for a little while if you want to get out."  


"Coming back to here? If we can get out, I'm for a motel!" She picked up her phone.  


"Wait. Let me check something." Jane tapped at his phone. He was smiling when he finished.  


"That was the park manager where I live. We still have power out there! Let's load up the truck and head for the Airstream!" And that's exactly what they did.  


"Are you sure you can drive on it?"  


"Sure. Once I get the truck in four-wheel drive, we'll do fine!"  


Jane was a little too enthusiastic for her liking, but she craved a warm place. "Okay. Let's go."  


The drive was endlessly beautiful, if a little treacherous in places especially once they left the treated and melting main roads. It was not just a winter landscape, of which Lisbon had seen many in Chicago. "It's like a fairyland, all sparkly! Everything is veiled in crystal and white!"  


Seeing her so thrilled made Jane happy. When she looked at him he winked. "There you go spouting poetry again. That's really nice, Lisbon."  


She could tell he meant it and smiled shyly, blushing a little. "Oh, go on."  


Jane broke the ice from the trailer steps and chipped around the door to free it. What a relief to be in a warm house! Even the tiny shower seemed luxurious! While Lisbon washed, Jane circled the Airstream, cutting branches hanging low with ice that threatened to break and fall on the trailer.  


Lisbon stepped outside and saw the sizeable pile. "It looks like a dragon's hoard of diamonds!"  


Quiet and still, barely a birdcall sounded. Lake Travis rippled like quicksilver beyond the bluff, stained orange and yellow where daubed by the afternoon sun, the iced trees reflecting color from everything like small gems set around a large dark jewel.  


Jane trundled from the trailer door in his pea coat, a red toboggan hat and a matching knit scarf. He carried several layers of clothing for her. "Bundle up!"  


"What? Where are we going?"  


"The county put down grit and salt on the lake road. Let's go christen your boat!" Jane had given her a boat for Christmas and she'd decided to call it The Mistletoe."  


"What? Are you crazy, Jane? It's freezing out there! There's ice." But she saw the neck of a champagne bottle poking out of his deep coat pocket.  


"It's not the North Pole, Lisbon. The lake's not even frozen. We'll bundle up. It'll be fun. I bet the view on the lake is marvelous. We can't miss it! Please?"  


She bundled into the clothes he brought, a plaid flannel shirt, obviously his, her puffy coat, some old mittens and a green woolen scarf with a matching tam that had earflaps and tied under her chin. "Where did you get these?"  


"The scarf and mittens? They were Angela's. And the hat."  


"Oh, Jane! I couldn't—"  


"Oh, yes you could. If Angela was here, she'd make you wear them herself."  


"Not if she knew we'd been kissing all the time, she wouldn't!" Her words hung in the air between them with the steam from her breath.  


They stared at each other, her eyes round and green, bright against her pale skin. His drooping, sad and shadowed. Then he stuck out his chin and drew his brow. "Yes, she would. She'd want me to be happy."  


Lisbon bowed her head, a little ashamed that they were having this painful conversation. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blurt that out. I wasn't thinking."  


He stepped towards her. "No. It's all right. No harm done. I'm glad you said what was on your mind."  


Looking solemnly into Jane's eyes, Lisbon said, "But I'm glad I make you happy."  


He smiled then and rushed to scoop her up in his arms, hugging and laughing and kissing her cheeks. When he drew her closer to lower his mouth to her lips, they both forgot everything uncomfortable and knew only each other. Setting her down, he held her hands for a moment and she saw that his were already red and raw.  


"Where are your gloves?"  


"In the truck. They're just leather driving gloves, but they'll have to do. Put on your hat and mittens." As he watched her put them on, Jane did not see Angela, but Teresa with the dark curling hair and freckled skin creamy pink from the cold, her eyes somber in the pale winter light under the frozen trees. He wrapped the scarf around her neck and tucked it into her coat.  


It was slippery getting out to the lake road, but the truck's four-wheel drive handled it well.  


"We have to hurry, Lisbon. It will be dark before we know it."  


Jane pulled several icy pine boughs from the bed of the truck and they headed down to the boat. They walked carefully to the pier and more confidently on it, since its dark wood and exposure had soaked up the strong sun and melted the ice away.  


Lisbon's mouth dropped open as she came to her lovely little boat. It was covered, something custom that fit just right! They removed it, somewhat awkwardly, to shed the melting ice into the lake rather than the boat. She gazed at the navy blue and white vessel, just twenty feet long, so perfect. Across the bow of the boat in merry rolling letters was "The Mistletoe" with two sprigs of holly painted at diagonally opposite corners! She looked at Jane, eyes, bright and excited. "Did you do this?" She ran to look at the other side of the boat and, sure enough, it was painted the same way.  


"Do you like it?"  


"Oh, Jane! I love it, I love it!" Running to his open arms, she hugged him fiercely. "It's perfect!"  


"I didn't do it myself, of course, but I had it done."  


Lisbon turned to admire it again. "It's beautiful," she said softly.  


"Let's start the ceremony."  


"Ceremony?"  


"Well, we'll make it up, but that won't matter. Here. Lay these green branches across the hull, that's the top there at the front. To appease Neptune, the god of the sea. And, so she can always find her way back to land."  


While she was doing that, Jane pulled the champagne from his coat pocket, removing the wire that caged the cork and approached as Lisbon finished laying the boughs.  


"You had a bottle of champagne just laying around?"  


"Left over from New Year's. Emergency stash."  


Lisbon chuckled. "Emergency champagne."  


"What are you going to say for your boat?"  


Lisbon looked into Jane's eyes, dark and warm, and bit her bottom lip. "Um . . . "  


Jane waited patiently, smiling, not wanting to hurry her.  


"Born in the Yuletide . . .  


"My best friend brought you with kisses . . .  


"May you ever carry me, us, safely through the waves . . .  


"I christen you, "The Mistletoe!" She bounced in happy excitement.  


Never had he seen her smile with abandon, no trace of reserve. He desired her more than life in that moment, but he took only a heated kiss and then sealed it with a soft buss on her, his best friend's, forehead. "Thank you." He gave her the bottle. "Take the champagne. I've already loosened the cork."  


Lisbon immediately started shaking the bottle and the cork popped loudly, spewing champagne like a fountain over the hull.  


When it looked like she would empty it all, Jane put a hand on her arm. "Wait! Leave enough for us to drink some. We have to have a toast. I'll go first." Holding the bottle in salute to The Mistletoe and then to Lisbon, he said, "The best present ever given or got was had on Christmas Day. My brave Mistletoe, you are a wonderful boat. But your skipper's kisses are beyond compare! Always bear them back to me." He lifted the bottle to salute the boat again and swallowed some champagne. Then he handed the bottle to Lisbon.  


She saluted him and then The Mistletoe. "My hardy little vessel, Mistletoe, you will always be a symbol of friendship and love. Be brave and true! Carry me and carry my friends safely to all ports and bring us home to one another again! I love you!" And she drank the last of the bottle. Rushing to Jane, they shared the taste of champagne on their lips over and over until they were breathless.  


"Thank you, Patrick. From the bottom of my heart."  


"You are so welcome, Teresa. So welcome." He swept his arm towards The Mistletoe. "Skipper first!"  


"Ha, ha! That makes you Matey!"  


Catching her before she stepped onto the boat he hugged her close and said against her wool-covered ear, "I'll be your Matey, anytime," and let go.  


She whirled to face him, her smile wiggling and clamped as if she kept a marauding secret. Eyes shining from evergreen deeps, her cheeks were bright with a flush more than cold. Then, she boarded The Mistletoe and swept her hand in invitation. "Get in, Matey."  


Still a bit clumsy at backing the boat from its slip, Lisbon insisted the task was hers as skipper on The Mistletoe's maiden journey. Jane helped her spot the marker buoys and stay in the lane that led out to the body of the lake. There were no other boats on the water as the sun moved low, soon to set. A slight breeze blew low over the water, failing to stir whitecaps, but making the surface roll lazily, gelid, like disturbed mercury. The cold was raw on their faces.  


Trolling into the lake, Lisbon cut the motor and they bobbed gently in the stillness. Jane stood spooned at her back, his chin on her head and his hands clasping hers in her pockets.  


Suddenly, the tips of the icy trees seemed to catch fire against the darkening sky. Yellow and orange and red, flaring across the treetops, bright like ravaging wildfire, out of control and spreading everywhere. It seemed to last forever. Then lavender-rose and purple, dancing in the ice-dipped branches, dripping down like tasty fruit syrups all around them, sunlight grabbing desperately, clinging even as it set, while The Mistletoe floated on the dark jewel of the lake.  


Lisbon made the sign of the cross as Jane kissed the top of her head, then her cheek. She tilted her face to catch his lips for the last one. "That was some christening."  


"Never saw one like it."  


"I'll take us in. It's dark and we need to be inside on a night like this." She turned for the slip and moored the boat like a pro, jumping out and tying it off expertly. The cover was difficult, but they managed finally to get it tied down. Good thing they were two!  


Once inside the Airstream, Teresa handed the hat, scarf and mittens to Patrick. "Put them back up now. And I thank Angela for the use of them." Her eyes glistened a little, thinking of his horrible loss. Taking them, he smiled and went to the back somewhere to tuck them away.  


She thought about the beautiful name on her boat. "Be sure to give me the bill for having The Mistletoe painted. And the boat cover. Those should be my responsibility."  


"Okay. I pay the license fees and the slip. You can have the bill for the painting and cover, if you want."  


They discussed sleeping arrangements over sandwiches and milk.  


"Jane. I liked sleeping with you last night. And I want to try your arms tonight." She blushed. "If it's okay."  


"It's more than okay, Lisbon."  


"But not in your bed. If you know what I mean."  


"Of course I know what you mean. We'll make the couch here into a bed and sleep there. Is that all right?"  


"I'd like that."  


Lisbon changed into her sweats in his bedroom and came out to make their bed while Jane was in the shower. An early night would be just the thing after the restlessness and discomfort of the night before. Lisbon watched a sitcom and a half, waiting for Jane to finish and wondering how such a little shower stall could make a person take so much time. Finally, he came out in his sweats.  


"You were a long time in there. Are you all right?"  


"Sure! Just taking care of something."  


He would do anything to maintain as much control as he could with her. But his precautions turned out to be unnecessary. The sweetness of his little bird resting safely in his arms was all the balm he needed as they both drifted away into unknowing sleep.


End file.
